COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 2, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Emily Day and Heather Hughes has advanced to the semifinals of the NORCECA Beach Circuit event in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Meanwhile the U.S. men’s team of Andy McGuire (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Avery Drost (Hawthorne, Calif.) finished pool play at 2-2, but lost in the first round of single-elimination.

Day (Torrance, Calif.) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.) completed pool play on Saturday with a 3-0 record after winning two matches on Friday and defeating Costa Rica’s Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro on Saturday, 21-14, 21-15 in 37 minutes.

In Saturday’s first-round match, Day and Hughes beat the Puerto Rico 2 team of Yamileska Yantin and Tatiana Encarnacion, 21-11, 21-10 in 32 minutes.

In Sunday’s semifinals, Day and Hughes will play Canada’s Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney. The winner will play the winner of the match between Costa Rica’s Morales and Alfaro and Mexico’s Mayra Garcia and Bibiana Candelas.

After dropping two pool play matches on Friday, McGuire and Drost came back to win two on Saturday, beating Trinidad & Tobago’s Fabien Whitfield and David Thomas, 21-16, 21-7 in 34 minutes and the Mexico 2 team of Ricardo Galindo and Juan Revuelta, 21-15, 21-15 in 34 minutes.

McGuire and Drost advanced to the first round of elimination, where they fell to Guatemala’s Andy Blanco and Erick Garrido in a three-set battle, 18-21, 21-12, 22-20 in 1 hour, 17 minutes.